Serena Williams prepares for emotional final tournament at US Open

Serena Williams is set to wave farewell to tennis in New York (Seth Wenig/AP)

Boyzone were top of the charts and more than a quarter of the women’s top 100 had not been born when Serena Williams made her US Open debut 24 years ago.

Already a superstar in the making at 16, Williams has been the talk of tennis ever since and will be celebrated as such at Flushing Meadows as she marks the end of one of the great sporting careers.